Perspective: The One Who Serves at the Table

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The One Who Serves at the Table

For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Mark 10:45 (NRSV)

He said, "Freely, freely, you have received
Freely, freely give
Go in My name, and because you believe
Others will know that I live"

From "Freely, Freely" by  Carol Owens

In the Gospels we read that one day the Disciples start arguing about which one of them is the greatest.  Overhearing their argument, Jesus says to them, "Kings like to throw their weight around and people in authority like to give themselves fancy titles.  It's not going to be that way with you.  Let the senior among you become like the junior; let the leader act the part of the servant."¹  Basically, Jesus is telling the Disciples that true greatness is found in humility and that, among His followers, leadership is to be viewed as a form of service.

In three of the Gospels, the Disciples squabble about which one of them is greatest,² and, in the same three Gospels, Jesus, in response to their clamoring for greatness, tries to teach them about practicing humility and leading with a servant's heart.³  What is unique about the Gospel of Luke is that this conversation takes place during the Last Supper, the final meal Jesus shares with the Disciples before He is arrested, put on trial, and executed by crucifixion.

Jesus then says to the Disciples, according to the Gospel of Luke,

Who would you rather be: the one who eats the dinner or the one who serves the dinner?  You'd rather eat and be served, right?  But I've taken my place among you as the one who serves.  And you've stuck with me through thick and thin.  Now I confer on you the royal authority my Father conferred on me so you can eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and be strengthened as you take up responsibilities among the congregations of God's people.⁴

The fact that Jesus speaks about serving and being served at the table during the Last Supper is illuminating, especially since He has been serving the Disciples during supper.⁵  Perhaps His words are meant not just for His original twelve disciples but for all of His disciples in all times.

Earlier that evening, Jesus took a loaf of bread, gave thanks for it, broke it, and gave it to the Disciples, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you.  Do this in remembrance of me."  He then took a cup of wine and gave it to the Disciples, saying, "This cup is the new covenant by my blood, which is poured out for you."⁶  These actions are reenacted regularly at churches all around the world in the sacrament of Holy Communion.

At many churches, including my own, whenever the congregation receives Holy Communion, we are reminded that the Communion table belongs not to the church or to the church's denomination but to Christ, and we are reminded that Christ is the One who invites us to the table.  We receive the body and blood of Christ - represented by bread and wine - so that "we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood."  We depart, praying "that we may go into the world in the strength of [God's] Spirit, to give ourselves for others."⁷

Christ humbly serves us at the Communion table, and we humbly receive the bread and wine representing His body and blood, so that we may be spiritually nourished to humbly serve His people as His disciples.


Notes:

1. Luke 22:24-26 (The Message)
2. See also Matthew 18:1 and Mark 9:33-34.
3. See also Matthew 20:25-28 and Mark 10:42-45.
4. Luke 22:27-30 (The Message)
5. I also found reading Jesus' words as they are translated in The Message illuminating in this case.
6. Luke 22:19-20 (CEB)
   
7. From "A Service of Word and Table I" in The United Methodist Book of Worship

The Last Supper was painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the late 1400s.